Decorating ideas for a theater-themed living room

With the cost of movies skyrocketing in theatres, more families have opted to decorate and use their living room for their own home theatre. With some well thought out decorating ideas, you can transform your room from the ordinary to an extraordinary treat for you and your entire family. Your family will soon clamber for movie night multiple times per week.

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Draperies

Set the tone for in-the-dark movie watching by covering a full wall rather than just individual windows. Hang a drapery rod the full length of your window wall to give the illusion of a theatre stage. If your television or screen is not on that wall is fine; it is the illusion you are aiming for. Get adventurous and mirror the draperies on the opposite wall. Make or purchase rich, deep red, velvet draperies, and add long, thick, gold, bullion-fringe on top of the bottom 12 inches of your velvet draperies for the look of an old-time theatre stage.

Carpeting

Use carpeting to set the stage for your living room theatre. Position your furniture to differentiate an aisle through your room to the screen or TV. Add an aisle to your carpeting. Carpet installers can piece a contrasting coloured aisle of carpet through the room, or, for a temporary aisle purchase a runner that you can stow behind a couch when not in use. Select a theatre-looking carpet, a red carpet outlined on either side with gold stripes helps to coordinate your draperies and further your theatrical illusion.

Accessories

Accessories, as in any room, can make or break the mood of your living room. Turn it into a theatre with the use of select movie memorabilia. Purchase or make plaques that simulate theatre signs advertising movies for 5 cents; hang others that look like movie reels or popcorn boxes. Purchase actual movie playbills or posters depicting your favourite films to frame on your theatre walls. Purchase a full-size popcorn machine, and add red-striped cardboard popcorn containers for an authentic theatre touch.

Lighting

Spotlight floor lamps make functional, additions to your living room theatre. You can find actual vintage spots at online auctions sites, but these tend to have hot housings as they were never meant for home use. Rather, purchase reproduction spotlights that you can use without worry.

Small, round, clear globe light strings simulate the lights of a movie marquee. String a few of them strategically in your living room. Tack them to the underside of exposed beams, if you have them, or line the tip of flanking bookcases. Make a sign advertising your cinema, and outline the sign with the globe lights.